Fantasy Basketball: Top Waiver-Wire Adds for Thursday, April 3rd
By Josh Lloyd
Russ Isabella-USA TODAY Sports
A lot of people are sleeping on the Los Angeles Clippers’ Darren Collison — just make sure you are not one of those people.
In today’s edition of “All Wired Up”, I’ll delve into the fantasy strengths of potential waiver wire gold like Collison and the Denver Nuggets’ Aaron Brooks.
» Darren Collison, PG, Los Angeles Clippers (33.8 percent owned on ESPN.com)
23 points (9-16 FG, 3-3 FT), 2 three-pointers, 3 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals, 1 block vs Suns.
Darren Collison is in a juicy position for fantasy owners. With Jamal Crawford missing the last two games — and ruled out for Thursday already — and J.J. Redick still not back, Collison will have a chance to log huge minutes. Redick is listed as a 75 percent chance to return to action, but if he does, he’s not going to be playing 35 minutes in his first game back and I’d imagine the Clips would ease him back over the season’s final two weeks.
That means Collison has enormous value for at least the next week and can be a key piece in a fantasy playoff push. Since Collison has been starting, for either Redick, Crawford or Chris Paul, he’s the 33rd best fantasy player on Basketball Monster.com. In that time frame, Collison is averaging 16.1 points, 1.6 three-pointers, 4.3 assists and 1.7 steals, shooting 49.0 percent from the field and 80.9 percent from the line.
Over the last three games in particular, Collison has been fantastic. He’s amassed eight steals, hit five threes and scored 62 points, while also dishing 17 assists.
With the exception of Gorgui Dieng, there is barely a hotter player on the waiver-wire at the moment and now is the time to make the move to add him. Even if you only get one more big game from him on Thursday, it’ll be worth it in the do-or-die playoffs.
Collison has thrived playing on a Chris Paul team throughout his career. His seasons in New Orleans and now in Los Angeles have been the best of his career, much more impactful than his stops in Indiana and Dallas. With Chris Paul humming, Collison is reaping the benefits yet again.
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Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports
» Aaron Brooks, PG, Denver Nuggets (1.4 percent owned)
24 points (9-12 FG, 0-0 FT), 6 three-pointers, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals, 2 blocks vs Pelicans.
The rise of Aaron Brooks over the week or so in Denver has been one of the oddities in this injury-riddled NBA season. If he was performing because Ty Lawson was injured, you could understand it. But Lawson is healthy and Brooks is somehow putting up monster lines regularly.
In the last week, Brooks is the 30th ranked player in fantasy basketball according to Basketball Monster.com. 30th?? Let me check that again.
Yep, 30th!
He’s averaged 14.0 points, 3.0 three-pointers, 3.3 assists and 1.3 steals on 60.0 percent shooting in his last three games. Can he keep it going? That’s more of a maybe, but it’s worth taking a flier on considering he’s been fantastic in three of his last four.
With the Nuggets out of the playoff mix, any slight nick that Lawson gets, the Nuggets will leave him out, so Brooks has a chance to put up some decent numbers. At this stage, I’d grab him in 12 team leagues and see how things play out.